Police and road crews have reopened the Ross Island Bridge after clearing a fatal head-on collision that closed lanes in both directions.

Portland police say the crash happened midspan about 12:30 p.m., when a vehicle driven by a 58-year-old man swerved into oncoming traffic, striking the right side of the bridge before slamming into another car driven by a 54-year-old man.

“One of the drivers appeared to have a medical attack of some kind,” said Lt. Eric Schober, a Portland Police Bureau spokesman, “and it appears that the other driver is a fatality.”

Neither man was identified.

A commenter on OregonLive reported witnessing the crash. "The accident happened 30-40 feet front of my car as I was driving west
over the bridge," the post said. "It was so violent, I thought something had exploded -
debris flew everywhere, one of the cars jumped up a couple of feet, and
both vehicles were terribly mangled. Several people did what they could
as first responders to the victims, but unfortunately one died
immediately or shortly after the accident, and the other was pinned in
his car, and the jaws of life had to be used to get him out."

Still, commuters should expect delays and traffic jams on major routes out of the city as traffic jams caused by Ross Island Bridge create a trickle effect on other routes, transportation officials said.